In South Korea and local casino operator Paradise Company Limited has reportedly announced that strong hotels sales linked with increasing domestic demand pushed its second-quarter profit up to approximately $14.4 million.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, this result was largely static year-on-year but represented a boost of around 165% on the firm’s first-quarter deficit of about $22 million. The source also explained that the Seoul-listed operator saw its profit for the three months to the end of June helped by a one-off gain of roughly $52.9 million linked to the disposal of an unnamed building and the recent easing of a range of coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

Coronavirus consequences:

Paradise Company Limited is reportedly responsible for the giant Paradise City integrated casino resort near the port city of Incheon as well as smaller hotel-based enterprises in the communities of Jeju, Busan and Seoul. All of these foreigner-only operations purportedly experienced a significant decrease in customer footfall following the appearance of the coronavirus epidemic but more recently saw their aggregated second-quarter sales swell by 24.3% year-on-year to top $81.1 million.

Quarterly quality:

Inside Asian Gaming reported that Paradise Company Limited moreover saw its aggregated second-quarter sales dip by 5.8% year-on-year to some $22.2 million although hotel receipts improved by 31.4% to circa $21.9 million while Paradise City income improved by 42.1% to nearly $34.8 million. All of this purportedly saw the casino operator’s associated adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization come in at $2.2 million, which equated to a sequential increase of 300% and was far superior to the $2 million loss it recorded for the same three-month period in 2021.

Prominent property:

Paradise Company Limited reportedly divulged that it enjoyed strong hotels sales during the second quarter particularly at its Paradise City development, which it runs in partnership with minority partner Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated. The firm purportedly went on to note that gaming revenues from this 711-room venue escalated by 32.2% year-on-year to something like $14.2 million while hotel receipts grew by 36.6% to $17.7 million to take its associated adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization back into the black via $3.2 million in income.

Operator optimism:

Adding to the good news and Paradise Company Limited reportedly pointed to the ‘growing staycation demand on five-star hotels’ as another a reason for the growth in its second-quarter sales. The company purportedly furthermore asserted that it is continuing to see improved average daily rates and now expects to see ‘operating profit turnaround from the third quarter backed by a casino recovery caused by Japan VIPs and strong hotel revenues in high season.’